Hola, just a quick update to explain why it is that I’ve done nothing except review books all month — basically I’ve done nothing this month except read and work on the Crispy Gamer redesign, which we’ll be launching June 1st. All of my other hobbies are at a temporary standstill, and I just haven’t had much to blog about because of that.
I’ve got a few more reviews coming, and then more regular updates will resume once we get into June.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
rating: 3 of 5 stars
One has to remind one’s self, while reading the Harry Potter series, that they’re meant for children in the 10 – 14 range, give or take, and not for a married guy in his early thirties who’s simultaneously reading Hubert Selby’s “Requiem for a Dream” …
In other words, while I enjoyed the third Harry Potter book, it was hard not to notice that it’s a little bit shallow in comparison to some other works out there. Yes, the series is beginning to get a little darker, and the character development a little more complex (although certain characters like Malfoy and even Hermione are still pretty thin — Rowling seems to enjoy fleshing out her professors more than her students), but it’s still a light read, and it’s still mostly about Harry being great almost despite himself.
I enjoyed the new Professor Lupin character and I liked Rowling’s use of the rat, Scabbers, as a more central character than anyone might have suspected. She’s also very good at giving hints early and having them pay off late, which is tougher to do consistently in writing than one might think — you have to tread the fine line between giving away too much and not making the hint memorable enough so that at the end of the book you have the reader going “oh yeah!”
Couple minor quibbles: I had a hard time getting in to the book initially because it felt like a carbon copy of the beginning of the first two. Harry’s miserable, the Dursleys are jackasses, and then something crazy goes down which ends with him making his way to Hogwart’s for the year. Then there’s some quidditch. Then Gryffindor wins the house cup again. As I said to my wife last night: if they win for a fourth time in the next book, I’m going to be annoyed. When is Ravenclaw going to get their due? Hell, when is Hufflepuffle (who I constantly want to call Jigglypuff … god help me) even going to get MENTIONED? The latter are like the retarded cousins of the Harry Potter world – bumbling and well-meaning but largely ignored. It’s all Gryffindor and Slytherin, with an occasional Ravenclaw love interest who doesn’t even get any dialog.
I was very excited when it seemed briefly like Harry might spend the summer with someone else – I won’t mention who for fear of ’spoiling’ a book that’s been out for five years – but that possibility is rapidly yanked away. Alas, it means we’ll get another opening with the Dursleys.
When Rowling puts her mind to it, she spins a nifty mystery tale, and at the core that’s basically what each of the Potter books has been so far. They just take a while to get rolling. I’m interested in the series enough to continue with it, but am hoping that in book four she finds a way to do something a little more interesting at the beginning, so I can get wrapped up in the story right away.
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ray Kurzweil has been accused by some as being incredibly optimistic in his vision for the future of humanity and the computer’s that we’ve created. His predictions, however, have an uncanny way of coming to pass, at least in large part. Spiritual Machines was written in 1999 and speaks of the advances that computers will make in the twenty-first century.
Now, a decade later, it is possible to look at the first of Kurzweil’s predictions, helpfully listed out in a chapter labeled “2009″ and evaluate them. He missed the mark, badly, on a few things — we’ve not yet reached a point where most books are consumed electronically, nor do we interface with out computers mostly through voice — but he is more often right than wrong, and even when the predictions fall short, it’s usually in a way that leaves the reader saying “well, not YET” … these things will come, they’ve just been a little slower in getting here than predicted.
Kurzweil is an unapologetic transhumanist – a person who believes that mankind can and should continue the evolutionary process through voluntarily seeking to “upgrade” his own body via technology. Whether this is done by re-engineering cells, creating remedies to sickness at the DNA level, inventing nanobots, or digitizing the human conscience and moving it to a machine reality seems to matter less to Kurzweil than that we continue to pursue all evolutionary options. Indeed, he would likely argue that we not only must force this self-evolution, but that we are incapable of NOT doing it. Even should our machines rise up, Terminator-like, and destroy us all, Kurzweil would still view this only as another evolutionary process. After all, was it not Homo Sapiens’ superior intelligence and technology which allowed us to beat out the other human variants, such as the neanderthal?
The Age of Spiritual Machines is an absolutely fascinating book even if you think Kurzweil’s a crackpot. I don’t. I share the belief that he’s an optimist, and that some of the predictions he makes won’t come fully to pass, or happen as quickly. Still, I feel that he is able to look at the future with an unflinching eye and, drawing from a wide variety of reputable sources (the footnotes in the book are so voluminous that they take up an entire chapter unto themselves), make many compelling statements about what humankind’s ever-advancing technological capabilities may bring.
This was by a wide margin the best book I’ve read so far this year, and one of the best of the last several years.
GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator (magazine) Issue 3 by Debbie Moorhouse
rating: 4 of 5 stars
As with each issue so far, GUD issue 3 contains an eclectic combination of short fiction, poetry and artwork, most of it in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres. Once again, the overall quality of work is strong. Particular standouts, to me, where the story “Soon You Will be Gone and Possibly Eaten” (sci-fi with a touch of horror) and the nifty Mezo-American sci-fi story “Night Bird Soaring”. I also enjoyed “The Train”’s incredibly surreal setting.
I have to admit, the “flying machines” theme didn’t really stand out to me. True, every story involved them in some way, but I didn’t feel it made the issue any better or worse than the preceding ones. I might not even have noticed it, had I not been aware of it from their call for submissions last year.
Overall GUD continues to represent arguably the strongest collection of short genre stories that I’ve encountered. I strongly recommend it.
I’ve written ANOTHER article for Crispy Gamer, this one in the form of a blog post. This one talks about a favorite game of mine: Nethack. Here’s a snippet:
“No! It’s too strong! I … oh, damn it, the f*cking troll killed Carbomb.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asks my wife Charlotte, who with a quick glance toward the little bed perched on our window-shelf can see that our cat, Carbomb, is still totally alive and sleeping peacefully.
“Oh,” I say. “I set the game so that if I start with a pet cat, the cat’s name is Carbomb.”
“That’s a game?”
“Sure. This little ‘at’ symbol is me, and that ‘T’ is a troll, and this is a …”
“Sounds great,” she says, and goes back to her book.
Okay, so perhaps not everyone understands the appeal of Nethack. Actually, it seems likely that the vast bulk of today’s gamers have never heard of Nethack, which really is something of a shame. How many games do you know of which have been in near-constant development for thirty years, boast a stunning depth of artificial intelligence unrivaled by modern titles, and will run flawlessly on any computer, of any speed, running any operating system available?
Check out the full article and let me know what you think!
I’ve written a new article for Crispy Gamer about the need to invest more development time (and machine cycles) in creating compelling virtual characters. Here’s an excerpt:
Recent releases like Gears of War 2 and Killzone 2 have offered gamers visual fidelity of unparalleled quality. For over a decade, improving visuals has been the focal point of development in gaming, and titles have advanced by great leaps during that time. We’ve also improved the audio in our games, and arguably even moved into telling deeper, more interesting stories. Text-adventure advocates may disagree with that last point, but certainly we expect a great deal more story from today’s mass-market titles, such as Gears of War, than we did of titles like Bubble Bomb or DOOM.
Unfortunately, the characters that populate our games seem to have been lost in the shuffle. One could easily argue that modern gaming characters are shallower and less compelling than their ancestors, some of whom had great reams of text-driven dialogue to spout. Even in a Game of the Year-quality title like Fallout 3, we’re still presented with primary story characters about whom we know virtually nothing, and with whom we have a hard time forming compelling, coherent relationships.
You can read the entire article over at Crispy Gamer!
The NBA playoffs have started, which makes me happy. My wife is in France at the moment, so I was able to sports-nerd it up and watch at least part of every single opening game this weekend. My thoughts:
Cleveland (1) vs. Detroit (8) – When your best player is putting up lines like 38p, 8a, 7r without even trying, when that’s just him working in the flow of the offense, you’re going to win a lot of games. Cleveland is going to win a lot of games in these playoffs. When your best player looks like he’s thinking about what team he’ll be playing for next year (Rasheed could not look less interested), you’re not going to win so many. I’ll be surprised if Detroit manages a single win in this series.
Boston (2) vs. Chicago (7) – A startling win even with the Celtics hurting, I have to admit. Anyone who follows the NBA knows that Rose is fantastic, but putting up a 36 and 12 in his first playoff game against the vaunted Celtics D is just ridiculous. KG or no KG, the Celts need to step it up. They can absolutely win one in Chicago … but now they’re in a situation where they not only have to win one away, but they know they can be beaten at home. Scary times for Boston.
Orlando (3) vs. Philly (6) – To echo the sentiments of Barkley and Webber: I don’t care if he can’t shoot free throws for shit, not giving the ball to Dwight Howard for the last five minutes of your games is ridiculous. I feel like Orlando could’ve won that game by just throwing lobs to Howard every possession. Instead they choked away a gigantic lead, exposing the fact that their crunch-time performance is shakey at best. Rafer Alston is not a real substitute for Jameer Nelson.
Atlanta (4) vs. Heat (5) – I know the prevailing theory is “whichever team has the best player has a good chance of winning” and all that, but … Miami’s two through eight positions just aren’t talented enough. The Hawks have been suffocating Wade all year on defense, and daring the rest of the Heat to beat them, and the Heat have been unable to do it. Barring the refs completely bailing Wade out for four solid games — possible but not probable — I don’t see Miami being able to take this series, no matter how much the NBA would love “LeBron vs. Wade” in the second round.
Los Angeles (1) vs. Utah (8) – Utah has absolutely no shot. LA’s got an incredible mix of young athletes and savvy veterans, three capable point guards (even if Fisher and Farmar haven’t been great lately), one of the best players in basketball, and incredible home crowd, and the motivation of losing in the finals last year. Utah has a lot of talent, but their chemistry is horrific, they’re banged up, and they’re playing the best LA team since 2002. I think the refs give them one game in Salt Lake, but that’s it.
Denver (2) vs. New Orleans (7) – New Orleans does not have the depth to overcome Denver’s defense and overall firepower. Melo’s game last night was awful, but the other Nuggets stepped it up (particularly Billups, who has a history of such things). I’m sure the Hornets will take a game or two via Paul’s overall brilliance, but I don’t think he can win them the series singlehandedly. I think it’s very possible that the Nuggets will make the conference finals this year.
San Antonio (3) vs. Dallas (6) – It pains me to say it, as a big fan of San Antonio, but I think they’re too banged up to take this series. Dallas is coming into the playoffs playing really well, and proved they’re not the average six seed by taking game one from the Spurs in San Antonio. Terry’s been a late-game assassin all season, now that he doesn’t have to handle the ball as much. Dirk’s Dirk … he’s going to get you 20 and 8, give or take, and doesn’t have to worry about covering the scoring load at the end of games. I think there’s also a lot less pressure as a #6 than there would be as a higher seed (witness their chokes the last two seasons). Especially by stealing this win, they absolutely should be able to take out a hobbled San Antonio team that’s not in championship form. However, SA is one of those teams where you never want to count them out until they’re out.
Portland (4) vs. Houston (5) – I think Portland is up against a Houston team who are almost maniacally focused on getting out of the first round. I also think they’re playing nervous and very tight right now. The last game of the season, when they romped all over Denver, they were moving around the floor, making lots of passes, and finding the open man. Houston ground that all to a halt, forcing the Trailblazers into a lot of 1-on-1’s, which is not the way they’re going to win games. I think they’ll be much more competetive in game 2, but I think Houston’s huge desire to get to round two will end up giving them the series win. Portland’s a year or two away from being a real contender.
pic courtesy of NBA.com
It’s been a busy April and it’s going to be an even busier May. We’re doing some massive projects on Crispy Gamer over the next six weeks, so I may not be around too much, but I’ll try to get some posts in. I’m reading four separate books right now (Age of Spiritual Machines, Harry Potter 3, Finding an Angel Investor, and Creating a World Wide Rave), so I’ll probably finish at least one of those and post a review on it. I’m sure you’re all really excited to hear what I think of Finding an Angel Investor.
Additionally, I’ve got an editorial in the editing phase for Crispy, so I’ll post when that goes up.
Additionally part two, I’m working on something fairly awesome with my friend Gabe that we’re hoping to launch this month. More on that soon!
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
rating: 3 of 5 stars
His Majesty’s Dragon is a tender story about the beautiful, homosexual, inter-species love between the protagonist and his gigantic black dragon.
Ok, so that’s not really what it’s about, but seriously … the homoerotic undertones in what is otherwise a fun, if not particularly challenging, historical fantasy are pretty amusing. Not only does the main character basically forgo women entirely in favor of his dragon (with the exception of a single night spent with a fellow “aviator” who basically forces herself upon him), but he frequently refers to the flying beast as “my dear” and at one point apparently engages in some accidental dragon masturbation while stroking the creature’s whiskers.
The premise of the book is basically “What if everything about our world, at the time of the Napoleonic wars, was exactly the same … except there’s dragons?” It makes for a unique fantasy setting, as the great naval battles of that era are now expanded to include aerial battle as teams of dragon-handlers scurry along the backs of their giant flying friends, firing at the enemy, dropping bombs, and occasionally even sword-fighting enemy boarders.
Our hero starts the novel as a ship’s captain, but is shortly removed from that post forever when a dragon egg his crew has captured hatches, and the dragon imprints on him. Dragons, you see, fall in love with their future master almost immediately at birth, and few can ever be persuaded to fly with any other. Older than most new aviators and not well-trained, the captain nonetheless throws himself into learning this new life. What follows is the description of his training, along with several battles with the French, leading up to a final climatic scene.
The book is a quick, easy read, enjoyable enough that I’m unsurprised there are several sequels. I may pursue the next volume in the series sometime this summer, when I’m looking for more of the type of “beach reading” that the series provides.
I’ll have a few more trip blogs coming in over the next couple of days, but I also read two books while on vacation. Here’s my review of the first of them:
The Children of Men by P.D. James
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Though it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for years (my wife’s copy), and though I quite enjoyed the movie, I didn’t get around to reading “The Children of Men” by P.D. James until recently. I found it to be an easy read, but enjoyable written. James has a nice command of the language and manages to put together fairly dense paragraphs that nonetheless don’t bog the reader down. I read the book essentially in two sittings — the first 100 pages on a plane, and the rest of it in an afternoon in a hotel room.
I went into the book knowing it was very different from the movie, so I was unsurprised by this fact, but it still bears repeating. There really is only a skeleton of James’s vision in the final film. The premise: that humanity has endured roughly twenty years of sudden-onset, incurable sterility, is fascinating. James does a good job of painting a picture of an England in which personal and social freedoms are slowly being drained away, and very few people care. Even the protagonist – a character who is not fully likable but more human than many heroes – is caught up in the general ennui that, James seems to posit, stems from the need for a defense mechanism against the terrible knowledge of humanity’s impending extinction.
Needless to say, his view is slowly changed as events unfold, culminating in a race against both time and the dictatorial English government. I found myself engrossed in the story and horrified by some of the things which occurred. Unlike the film, which literally starts with a bang, there is very little violence on display through the first half of the book. This makes the first instance of such – particularly given against whom the act is performed – supremely disturbing to both the reader and the protagonist. In effect the violence is more powerful because there is less of it. This continues throughout the book: the vast majority of atrocities being committed in the world, both inside and outside of England, are only hinted at. The violence we’re allowed to see is deeply personal.
The novel unravels a bit near the end, in my opinion. Some decisions are made that seem to happen more for the convenience of the plot than for the characters. There is a gun with a single bullet prominently involved in the second half of the story, and there is very, very little doubt about who that bullet is intended for. Also, it becomes increasingly more heavy-handed in its Christian overtones, which isn’t really my thing. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit and highly recommend it.